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There is a lot going on, and I don't get to blog - or read, or scrapbook, or sit and do nothing - nearly as much as I would like to.
I did get a layout put together, though. Maybe there will be more to come. I hope.
The last few months have been swamped. I have made 2 trips to the West coast (one was unexpected), had two boys playing football, had a daughter win a volleyball tournament after her regular volleyball season, have made a few trips to St. Jude, taxied all the kids to various activities and appointments, was fortunate enough to have my brother and his family come for a visit, came down with a knocked-me-out virus that turned into two different bacterial problems, and still had to hold down a couple of jobs and keep up with copious amounts of laundry daily. With the holiday season here I am not sure if I will ever be able to get all the updates done, so I have been scrapping about some of the events recently and am just going to post the layouts I have finished instead. They are in no particular order, and really only represent a small portion of our autumn experiences.
I will be posting later today with turkey pictures. There might even be a pilgrim or two in there. But it is nearly 4 am right now, and I should get some sleep before I embark on my cooking crusade.
If you think about it today, would you say a prayer for Chet? He is okay right now, but he has been having headaches. I have to leave on Sunday to take him back to St. Jude to have an angiogram and MRI done to make sure he isn't developing blood clots in his brain. I haven't said much about it to anyone, because frankly, there are a lot of scary words in that sentence. However, even if he does have some developing they can be treated if we catch it early enough, and there is a very good chance he may just be getting headaches from growing nearly an inch a month for the last couple of months. He is obnoxious that way, but I love him anyway.
Enjoy your day!
One of the sets of pictures I haven't had time to share yet were of a field trip Jack took with Beth and her class. I sent him with my camera with strict orders to make sure somebody took a picture of them together, and although he took very few pictures overall he did great making the one that really mattered was taken!
The kids and their dads walked over to the sale barn where they got to see the animals and see what happens in a livestock auction. Afterwards, they all walked back to her school and Jack stayed to have lunch with her.
Even though Beth still talks about the cows she saw, what really meant the most to her was Jack staying for lunch. She mentions it all the time. I am glad they enjoyed their field trip together!
The kids all wore something green today, but due to work, school, and Tuesday Night Dinner, we didn't get to take leprechaun pictures. I did get this one of Beth on the way out this morning, though.
She asked me yesterday to put "bunnies" in her hair. I thought she said "ponies" and gave her ponytails. "No, Mommy," she corrected, " I want bunnies!" I really wasn't sure what she meant, so I asked her to tell me what they looked like. "You know," she said, "They go around!"
So I made messy buns, and apparently it was exactly what she wanted. Her hair is so fine that her "bunnies" are hopping out of their hair ties within the hour (she didn't even make it out the door this morning before her left bunny started slipping loose). She loves them, though, and I wanted to share with you in case your 5 year old ever asks you to put furry rodents in her hair.
"I am going to be the cutest girl in class today," she said as she admired her bunnies in the mirror. That's my girl, the poster girl for humble attitudes!
Here are a couple of Irish-themed digital layouts I made this week. Now I am thinking of doing the unexpected and actually going to bed early and getting some much needed sleep. I will probably still be thinking about it when 1am rolls around and I decide to go to sleep so I can function tomorrow. Hope you all didn't get pinched today!
Today was a quiet day at home. Half of the kids and I are sick, so we stayed busy mostly doing nothing.
This was Jack's only day off this week, so he spent the day working in the yard. You can see the big pile of smaller tree branches behind him. We are going to have to rent a woodchipper to get rid of all of those instead of burning them. That would be a bonfire that could too easily get out of control. We are enclosing our front porch this spring to expand the front room and kitchen. After the ice storm, Jack decided he is also building a fireplace into the new front room. So he has been cutting up the thick branches into firewood.
As he cut the wood into fireplace portions (is there a particular word for that??), Faith and Kyle stayed busy stacking it up...
and making bunnyears.
Sammy stayed busy sleeping.
Since the lumberjacks, the sickies, and the teenager were all hungry I made a quick lunch. The Macaroni Grill is one of my favorite restaraunts, so when I saw their version of Hamburger Helper I thought we would give it try. I still prefer homemade, but this wasn't bad for a box of preservatives.
I was invited to an all night crop last night. I started feeling sick on Friday, but I could not pass up the opportunity to leave the kids, the husband, and the laundry behind and get out for the night. I even had the pictures from the Silver Dollar City trip printed out and I brought paper supplies with me. Crystal (married to Nathan) met me there, and we lasted until midnight.
I didn't finish my album, although I did get the covers cut out and I got all of the photos taped down to their pages. Today I looked at all the boxes on the table that I hadn't put away yet and decided to leave them out for a couple of days so I will actually get the album done. I forgot how much of a mess I make when I scrap with paper goods. Digital is a lot cleaner!
However, as I worked on this this afternoon, the kids kept coming up and clamoring to see their pictures and their pages. All of them were flipping through what I had done and talking about that trip. Beth kept painting tags and stealing sticker letters to spell words on her painted tags. I liked making the album; the kids loved me making the album. Jack and I were talking about their reaction, and I have decided to make more time to make things like this that they enjoy so much. It was touching to see how much they enjoyed it.
I still have half of the album to finish filling in and journaling. It is a junque style album with chipboard pages, tag pages, transparency pages, etc. I will post pictures of all of it in a couple of days when I get it done. I just couldn't get through it all today feeling like I do.
I am going to go track down some cough syrup and Tylenol and see if I can make my throat not feel like somebody has been rubbing it with sandpaper. Then I am going to go to bed, where I can tuck my ice cold toes under Jack's legs to warm them up. I am crossing my fingers that the kids wake up feeling a lot better and this doesn't get any worse this week. We have a lot to do over the next seven days. We don't have time to be sick!
When I was about 13 I really started begging my mom to let me wear make-up in public. She thought I was still too young, and resisted my incessant pleading.
At that same time we were living in a house my mom rented from my grandparents. I desperately wanted a kitten, but my gramma did not like cats and told me "no" repeatedly.
Months went by with me pleading, my mom saying no, me pleading, my gramma saying no. I was outnumbered. My cries fell on deaf ears. The dejection was appalling. I was turning 14 and doomed to face each day with a bare face and devoid of feline companionship.
Then one day my gramma wanted to put lipstick on me for something, probably a Job's Daughters event. My mom resisted. My gramma said if my mom would let me wear make-up, she would let me have a kitten. I don't know how the cosmos lined up in my favor for that one, because never again has a compromise between two other people given me everything I wanted at a particular point in time. I just know I walked away dazed and slightly confused, but didn't waste any time learning how to apply make-up while cuddling my kitten.
I took some pictures of Faith today with her guitar. Our awesome friend Kevin has been teaching her to play. She wants to go on in life to sing and perform. She wants to play guitar, piano, and the flute. She wants to be a rock star. And she wants to wear make-up.
I won't let her out in public with make-up, but she likes to steal mine and put it on at home. Sometimes Jessica would doll her up too. My pretty little girl becomes absolutely stunning with make-up applied properly. So I have laid down a rule... she can't wear make-up in public until she is 50.
Today I let her put a little lipstick on for these pictures. Seeing them just reinforces to me that this rule is sound.
There isn't much she can do about it. Beyond the fact that she really is still too young to wear full make-up, she has no leverage power. Her gramma loves cats and Faith already has several of her own. 
And I think she is pretty enough without it.
She rocks.
I was re-organizing paper goods during the Tuesday Night Dinner, and asked if anybody wanted the empty box.Todd immediately claimed it and made it a home, a car, a dance club, and several other structural identities. It was the cheapest fun he has had this year! (and I am pretty good about finding cheap or free fun!)
I have been participating in a couple of challenges since the new year. One of them is working out three times a week at Curves. Trust me, NOBODY wants to see pictures of that. So this is my photo today for the Photo a Day Challenge I am part of. That silly box rode home with us and is set up in my pretty blue room. It wasn't the decor style I was going for.
And this was for a template challenge I am enjoying. I have developed an incredible love of digi scrapping with blank templates. I loved these pics of Todd rocking out the ukelele.
The big challenge I am part of is the amazing digi race with two challenges a week. This was my layout for the first one. I am so impressed that I am done with mine a full 4 nights before it is due. I am not known for doing things before the last minute. I had to black out the depressing journaling because my blog isn't about the aches and pains of life. I try hard to keep it happy and upbeat even when I'm not! :0)
The crop I was going to go to the other night was cancelled, but has been rescheduled for next month. I stopped by Johanna's store the other day and armed myself with a black ink pad. When the crop gets here I will be ready to create some sloppy junque pages. Of course, knowing me, I won't print the photos or gather the papers until about an hour before I have to leave for it. After all, I was the one they parodied in the "If it weren't for the last minute I wouldn't get anything done" quote.
I am trying to get Faith's video uploaded. It might be up tonight. We distributed Angel Food this morning, and then Jack and I went and finished our Christmas shopping. (mostly) Matt and Chet went to a Christmas party with the youth group tonight, and I scrapped a layout!
It is literally freezing tonight. The news said it would be 18 in the morning and feel like 4. Brrrrr. Stay warm!
I finished another one this morning after I started it about 3am. Sometimes I make layouts that I just really like a lot more than others. This is one of those layouts.
Iam heading out to take pictures for Christmas cards now.
We had our first snow flurries about a week ago. The kids were so excited, and then so disappointed that it didn't stick around. The girls spent about an hour upstairs watching it, waiting to see if there would be enough for a snowman. There wasn't. However, there should be plenty more where that came from this year!
of jalapenos. They are still growing by the pounds. Maybe I didn't need six jalapeno pepper plants. Today I picked about 50. There are still a few hundred little ones out there. I will get back to this red one later.
There were some other veggies out there today as well. We found some cucumbers, red orange and green bell peppers, two of those squiggly peppers, and an assortment of Roma and cherry tomatoes. Orange and red bells cost a small fortune at the moment, so I was really happy to see those guys.
Faith, Kyle and Todd wanted to help prepping our harvest, so the four of us spent the afternoon slicing and dicing.
We made some pasta salad without the cherry syrup. Mmmmmmm.
And a mountain of salad. Those bells added such a yummy crunch and flavor. I love a loaded green salad!
I also sliced up a bunch of the extra peppers. I see fajitas and philly cheesesteak sandwiches on the menu in the near future. Just not for the same meal.
Kyle got bored and went outside to play, and the girls finished up their pepper poppers. Usually we put cream cheese in the peppers, but today we added cheddar cheese and some chopped up sundried tomatoes as well.They were incredibly yummy. I didn't think the red pepper would be hotter than the green ones, but I was really wrong. I am glad I ate that one instead of the kids. (That sounds weird, doesn't it... I wouldn't eat my kids.)
I still have about twenty jalapenos in my fridge. Anybody need some? Hurry before the frost kills all the rest of them!
I have design work to get done tonight, but I thought I would share a layout I made the other day while I was waiting for the girls to get out of their Girl Scout meeting. Now I better get into the creative mode and get some kits finished up.
I took my computer with me to Faith and Todd's dance classes today and got these finished up while I waited. I am going to have to videotape Todd practicing his hiphop moves. Entertainment isn't the word for it! He just packs all of his personality into every single move, cracking me up for the entire process!
I am uploading some pictures and will be back in a bit with an update.
After a busy afternoon of catching frogs yesterday, Beth convinced Faith to give her a hair and make-up makeover. A few hairclips and lipgloss applications later they were ready for photos. Dear Future Teenage Boys - These girls will never be allowed to date. We will be arranging marriages for them when they are 30.
Jack came in this morning with a bowlful of veggies from my garden. The tomatoes are finally turning red. The humongous cucumbers (about 4 inches round) were a surprise. Jack found a volunteer plant in the back of the garden with a whole bunch of them. At this size, they are too woody to eat, but those tomatoes and peppers will be on the menu tonight!
I took a break from designing last night and scrapped a couple of pages. I am hoping to make a couple more tonight, headache permitting. Perhaps some homemade pico de gallo will be a good antedote for this recurring migraine!
Other than Matt, who has been gone every night at practices, a concert, and attending a volleyball game (AKA flirting with the volleyball team) we have all had a quiet week.
Faith, Todd, and Beth were all promoted to the next Sunday School class on Sunday. Faith received a Bible, and they all got certificates. I can't stand that Beth isn't in the nursery anymore. I think babyhood should last a lot longer than it does!
We spend every Tuesday at the church cooking a community dinner for anybody who wants to eat. It is a mission that has been growing, and last Tuesday we fed 111 people. I love when Kevin brings his guitar on Tuesdays and sings during the dinner. Faith usually sings with him, and it is good practice. Beth has been listening all along, hearing the songs in church and as Faith practices them around the house. Actually, Faith is always singing when she isn't talking.
Anyway, I digress... Beth has been learning these songs, and at 4 years old seems intent on being a part of the praise band in years to come. She sat down with Faith and Kevin the other night and sang along. All on her own. In front of a room full of people. We could hear her in the kitchen. My astonished heart was bursting with pride. This is the same little girl who has spent years hiding behind my legs. I wish I'd had my video camera!
My kids think pizza is a food group in and of its own. They really love when I make either homemade pizza or mini muffin pizzas. We went for the mini muffin version the other night. I like to buy the big pepperoni from the deli counter. It tastes better than the packaged version, I can have it cut as thin as I want it, it costs less, and one piece fits perfectly across the top of the muffin. According to Todd, these make me the "Best Pizza Cook in the Whole World." Ironic since I don't particularly like pizza myself.
I showed you some Suprise Lilies the other day, but when I came home and found all the raindrops sprinkled on them I had to take another picture. I might enter this one in the fair.
Jack has been working nights, and I am reveling in the quiet at night. After dinner, clean-up, baths, and bedtime, I have a clean and quiet house all to myself. I have been getting a lot of design work done, and even scrapped a couple of layouts. It won't last, of course. Regular football games, youth activities, and other things are starting next week. Faith is signing up for volleyball tomorrow (because we didn't have enough sports activities on our calendar) and the county fair is next week. I am thinking of entering some of my pictures into the photography contest at the fair. I need to decide which ones, though. I am looking forward to all of it, but for now I am really, really, seriously, I mean really enjoying my quiet nights at home. If anybody has yahoo messenger and wants to chat, just holler!
Both of these layouts are made using kits I designed last week. Beth is still trying to sneak frogs into the house. This one was chirping as he desperately tried to escape her clutches. Poor frog. She is the girliest tomboy I have ever met!
I am looking forward to the quiet weekend, and the kids are excited about the parade on Monday. There weren't many pictures to share this week, but that is all going to change next week. See you then!
